Court leaves Metropolitan Arseny in custody until the end of May

On April 21, 2025, on Bright Monday, a hearing took place in the Dnipro Appellate Court in the case of Metropolitan Arseny of Sviatohirsk Lavra. The panel of judges reviewed the defense’s appeal against the decision of the Sloviansk city district court, which decided to extend the bishop’s detention until the end of May. This was reported by the Sviatohirsk Lavra website.

The defense presented arguments in favor of an alternative preventive measure and pointed out questionable powers of the prosecutors involved in the case. However, the court did not take these arguments into consideration and upheld the previous decision.

During the hearing, it became known that one of the members of parliament, Volodymyr Moroz, who had been willing to stand surety for the metropolitan, passed away on April 21, 2025. Another surety, People’s Deputy Victoria Gryb, informed the court of this.

The next hearing in the case of Metropolitan Arseny is scheduled for May 6, 2025.

It is worth recalling that on April 24, a year passed since the arrest of the hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Arseny of Sviatohirsk. The hierarch has been in the Dnipro pretrial detention center for a year after being detained by the SSU, who charged him with committing a criminal offense.